Not a good day...

[fab]

Well, my laptop has finally crapped out for some reason. I had another power adapter on warranty as the computer store repair person had told me that it was only getting 1/3 of the voltage expected. Long story short, I have another one on order, and it was working well enough so long as I got it to stay connected by chance and didn't bump the adapter.

Turns out that the adapter might not have been the problem. I was getting weird flickers from my laptop LCD where the monitor would go completely black for maybe a tenth / quarter of a second and then turn back on.

I was working on an audio project for school, backing up my files and such as my backup the other day failed for some reason. (80-90% of the content on the DVD was corrupted somehow in the burn.) In the middle of the backup, the laptop dies and won't turn back on.

I figure it's the adapter, so I take it to the local computer shop. They try their universal power adapter, set the voltage, and lo and behold, it works. For three minutes. Then it completely and utterly fails.

So I call HP and decide to make use of my warranty, and after fighting with their automated voice system, I eventually get a hold of a person after its routing fails and forces me to redial twice. Thankfully, the person actually seemed to know what they were doing, and hopefully I'll have a working laptop in five or six business days. Hopefully.

To top it all off, my Dad got injured at work and is in the hospital right now. I think he's going to be okay though, since instead of being in a coma or severely concussed, I think they said as far as they know that he just broke his arm and bashed his head. <fingers crossed> Every single thing which could possibly have a microchip in it save my Mom's desktop has somehow given me trouble today...

ARGH

I just felt like ranting. Anyway. Murphy's Law ftw! No TF2 for me to blow off steam for the next week (no pun intended).

Anyone else have any good "disaster day" stories? Misery loves company. This really isn't that bad -- it's just extremely frustrating that it's all been mostly out of my hands. :rolleyes:

[Diffy]

Good luck! Sucks to hear about your laptop

[Pharmacy]

Sucks to hear that :( I really hope father is going to be all right...

My worst disaster is falling asleep on a bus in Japan and waking up at the end of the line, incredibly far away from my stop with no means of reaching my host family and no money. And it was dark and raining. And I couldn't speak Japanese. Yeah that was scary.

[Cleavage Monkey]

<<HUG>>

[FourierT]

I'm sorry to hear that man.

I really hope your dad makes a full speedy recovery. Hang in there and things will get better!

[badastronaut]

Sorry to hear about that :( I hope it gets fixed rather fast!

I have a couple of disasters, but none as bad as this computer I'm typing on right now. I bought it from a local computer store called Smart Buy (I'll tell you why not to shop there soon enough ;)) as a custom order and spent all the money I had at the time on it. Unfortunately, for me, I didn't know that the Compaq OEM version of XP I had would have issues with it. I thought "XP is XP, right?" I guess I was wrong, because it only worked for a little while before going completely bust. I thought "okay, I'll just do a fresh install". Bad idea. I have 2 HDDs in the computer, and I told it to format the one that I wanted to. It got confused and formatted the one with all of my stuff on it.

Fast forward around 3 weeks, a couple of hundred dollars, a lot of stress, and a new version of XP later, I was back up and running. Till early 2008. Computer just started randomly shutting down. Took it in to the shop and they replaced my PSU (to a shitty 425 watt one with too few IDE connectors from a 500 watt one :() and 512 mb of my 1 gb total RAM. That repair was a couple of hundred dollars, and it's still not working right. Not to mention that I can't hook up both DVD drives (one RAM, one RW) because of the new PSU.

Also, in the couple of times it's been in the shop, they've scratched the piano black finish on my beautiful Antec Sonata II case and tried to cover it up with black sharpie. Think I can't tell matte black MARKER from glossy, piano black finish? WTF.

In short: never shop at Smart Buy. They'll screw you over every time.

[BlossoM]

Sorry to hear about your laptop crapping up on you... boo I know it can be frustrating and all especially trying to get work done or play :)
Glad to hear that your dad isn't seriously seriously injured.... the arm will heal, and just make sure he's gets his mri/cat scan for the head :)
Hope you find some peace amongst all the rukkus :)
Take Care.

[fab]

Thanks guys. Yesterday just sucked...

Thing turned out as best as can be expected, though. Thankfully, Dad was released from the hospital after not too long with just a broken arm (as opposed to the serious head injury which could've happened), and other than the break, I guess he just gets dizzy and headachy, so hopefully that's not indicative of further problems.

The UPS guy just showed up twenty minutes ago to take my laptop to the repair centre. I basically opened the boxed, shoved it in there, slapped the label on it and handed it back to him. On the whole it was pretty painless... Here's hoping that HP will fix it in short order, that the problem isn't too serious, and I won't somehow incur charges since I paid for that three year damage warranty...

I decided to read the informational slip after packing it up since I didn't want to keep the delivery guy waiting. It said to make sure I removed all passwords... Well, I removed my hard drive so the passwords for my OS won't be a problem, but I forgot to get rid of the BIOS password. Not much I could do without disassembling it and doing something with the CMOS or whatever since I couldn't turn the bloody thing on... So at least now they won't wipe my hard drive before they perform diagnostics. Heh.

[ORION]

do you use the BIOS password to log on? if the system will load the HDD without asking for a BIOS password then you can unload the BIOS password in about 10 minutes, if the system doesn't start up without it you often have to de-solder a small memory module off the board (for Acer anyway, HP may be less secure). Also they may bitch at you for withholding the HDD. May.

[fab]

Well, I told the salesperson what the dealio was and that I didn't want to ship off my harddrive to have to go through the grief of losing all my shit (the previous backup failed and so did the one it was in the middle of...), and I couldn't turn the damn thing on. So if they complain, well, screw 'em. I hadn't tweaked the RAM timings or anything because a) I don't know what I'm doing in that regard and b) it's a laptop and if I was going to dick with something I'd start with something modular.

So yeah, I do use it to log on (one pwd for two OS's). My main problem is that the damn thing wouldn't even turn on, soo... I wouldn't have any way of telling if I'd removed the BIOS password correctly?

Far as I'm concerned, if the thing is fucked, they can fix it or give me the refresh with the newer processor or the newer equivalent of my graphic card. :lol:

[badastronaut]

Hah, this is kind of ironic, but it seems that my PC is suffering the same symptoms as yours. Just won't boot anymore. If the repair is over $150, I'm not fixing it (this PC has been nothing but trouble) and won't be able to play TF2 for a couple of months :( That would really suck, indeed!

[fab]

I just got mine back. They changed the system board... Which didn't fix the problem. I have managed to turn it on though and on it will stay (or in standby).

Apparently it's a battery issue. Apparently. They really don't have a clue as they didn't even test it really.

So... As for speed, HP's turn around time with replacing a laptop mobo (it now runs quieter / cooler than before) was basically one business day. Pretty impressive...

But my laptop battery died 2 months after the 1 year manufacturer parts warranty, and they apparently convert the CDN dollar to $320 from US $250... WTF.

So if mine dies, I'll probably bite the bullet, but be severely pissed indeed, as I paid $200-300 for the damage warranty in the first place! (!!!)

[fab]

Question for everyone (possibly esp. for Orion, since he fixes computers on a regular basis?):

Apparently they swapped out the system board, but I'm still having problems. The support monkey on the phone insisted it was the battery and I should buy another $250-320 battery. Yeah, I'd really rather not. :(

I believe I have problems with my power adapter. I haven't checked myself, but the computer technician I spoke to in Ottawa stated that the adapter was only serving up one third of the recommended voltage.

My question is this... could my laptop be overheating and thereby committing seppuku? Or maybe it's the adapter... I don't think it's getting overly hot, but if it is overheating, do adapters automatically shut off to prevent fires? (!)

Oh, and does anyone know where I can get a (hopefully free, or perhaps "fell off the back of the truck for testing purposes" free harhar) temperature monitor for my laptop that will create a log / dump file of my temperatures every so often? Maybe that'll help me figure out if that's the problem.

If I have to, I'll send it off to HP again, but I'd rather figure it out myself at this rate, since it was probably some cut rate repair facility that just went through the motions and apparently replaced my system board because of that. :confused: (really, wtf)

[badastronaut]

Hah, my issue was really a non-issue. The RAM wasn't seated properly XD Not my fault though, as I never touched the computer from the time I used it last. And I have stickers all over the back saying "IF YOU OPEN THIS CASE, YOUR WARRANTY WILL BE VOID". Damn fascists!

[badastronaut]

I'm so fucking raged right now. As I posted this morning, I got my PC back and they said it was just improperly seated RAM. I was like "okay", saw them test it, and took it home. Then I tried it at home, and it worked. Then I turned it off.

So, I go away for 4 or 5 hours (had to write an exam), come back, and IT DOESN'T WORK. It's not booting again, only this time, the power light doesn't even come on. Thanks for ruining my evening, Smart Buy. I hate you.

[ORION]

Question for everyone (possibly esp. for Orion, since he fixes computers on a regular basis?):

Apparently they swapped out the system board, but I'm still having problems. The support monkey on the phone insisted it was the battery and I should buy another $250-320 battery. Yeah, I'd really rather not. :(

I believe I have problems with my power adapter. I haven't checked myself, but the computer technician I spoke to in Ottawa stated that the adapter was only serving up one third of the recommended voltage.

My question is this... could my laptop be overheating and thereby committing seppuku? Or maybe it's the adapter... I don't think it's getting overly hot, but if it is overheating, do adapters automatically shut off to prevent fires? (!)

Oh, and does anyone know where I can get a (hopefully free, or perhaps "fell off the back of the truck for testing purposes" free harhar) temperature monitor for my laptop that will create a log / dump file of my temperatures every so often? Maybe that'll help me figure out if that's the problem.

If I have to, I'll send it off to HP again, but I'd rather figure it out myself at this rate, since it was probably some cut rate repair facility that just went through the motions and apparently replaced my system board because of that. :confused: (really, wtf)

Laptop mobo's are usually $300-400 inc labour to repair, so you got off easy on this one. Run it without the battery in, if it doesn't power on the adapters if fuxored, Staples can get you the actual adapter from the manufacturer for like $75 or this (http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10680ST9239) or this (http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10680ST6022) should work too. If it's just a batter issue there's no reason why the batter would cost you that much, pretty sure we get them, with a pretty high mark-up, for like $100 through work (Staples, parts supplied by Nexicore).




I'm so fucking raged right now. As I posted this morning, I got my PC back and they said it was just improperly seated RAM. I was like "okay", saw them test it, and took it home. Then I tried it at home, and it worked. Then I turned it off.

So, I go away for 4 or 5 hours (had to write an exam), come back, and IT DOESN'T WORK. It's not booting again, only this time, the power light doesn't even come on. Thanks for ruining my evening, Smart Buy. I hate you.

LoL, check your PSU, fuck those warranty stickers, no one cares about them (well, SmartBuy might) make sure the 110/220v switch is in the right spot (lol Mortivex) and that it's securely connected inside the machine (all while unplugged) make sure all the little wires in the bottom right corner of the mobo are on their pins (should be atleast 3 little wires, 1 for each: Power Switch, HDD LED, Pwr LED and a 4th for a reset switch, optional 5th for a PC Beep Speaker) broken/disconnected power switches are a pain in the ass. Anyway, if you plug it in and it's still not working, (TKJ Bitched me out hard for this next tip once) get a paperclip, disconnect the PSU completely, grab the 20/24 pin connector and run the clip from the green line to one of the black ones, plus the PSU in and switch the 0 to 1. If the PSU starts, bitch out SmartBuy for not using proper ESD equipment and damaging your motherboard.

[badastronaut]

LoL, check your PSU, fuck those warranty stickers, no one cares about them (well, SmartBuy might) make sure the 110/220v switch is in the right spot (lol Mortivex) and that it's securely connected inside the machine (all while unplugged) make sure all the little wires in the bottom right corner of the mobo are on their pins (should be atleast 3 little wires, 1 for each: Power Switch, HDD LED, Pwr LED and a 4th for a reset switch, optional 5th for a PC Beep Speaker) broken/disconnected power switches are a pain in the ass. Anyway, if you plug it in and it's still not working, (TKJ Bitched me out hard for this next tip once) get a paperclip, disconnect the PSU completely, grab the 20/24 pin connector and run the clip from the green line to one of the black ones, plus the PSU in and switch the 0 to 1. If the PSU starts, bitch out SmartBuy for not using proper ESD equipment and damaging your motherboard.
Thanks for the advice Orion. I think I misspoke though. It is powering on, but all that I get is the HDD light and after that, nothing. It doesn't even attempt to POST. Which is very strange, as all I did was turn it off. I've tried re-seating the RAM (I've already said "to hell" with those warranty stickers) to no avail. I did find out that Smart Buy didn't actually seat the RAM properly in the first place - the little clips that hook into the side of the RAM weren't properly in place. I've also heard tell of resetting the CMOS and reseating all of the hardware, but I'm too much of a hardware noob to even consider touching anything other than the RAM.

[ORION]

resetting the cmos is just a matter of switching a jumper, and then moving it back again. But in the last month or so I've seen about 5 mobo's go with those exact symptoms.

[badastronaut]

So you think my mobo is dead?

[ORION]

only way to tell is to a) use a POST card or b) swap out the PSU/CPU/(possibly Video) and try to start it.

[GreenEnvy]

It's a lot more of a pain with laptops since everything is so hard to get at.
Generally though, if it won't post, it's a problem on the mainboard. I've had a couple where there was an obvious broken solder joint, which was a quick fix, but often it's a random cap or transistor thats failed, which is all but impossible to track down.
some laptops will blink an error code, most of our Toshibas at work do this. You can look up the flash sequence online. On our toshibas it's usually the power light that does this when you try to turn it on.

[ORION]

Astro's is a desktop if I'm not mistaken.

[badastronaut]

Astro's is a desktop if I'm not mistaken.
Yep.

A8N32-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon x2 4200+
nVidia Geforce 6600 GT
1 GB (2 x 512 MB) RAM (PC-5200)
415 (??! WTF I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS :(:() Watt PSU

I've also noticed in the weeks before this actually happened, it would lose track of my resolution or just not be able to run in 32 bit colour (reverting to like 2 bit or something - it was all white and purple). I would just have to restart and everything would be fine. Other times, it would boot and look fine, but it would appear to have shifted around 10 pixels to either the left or right on the monitor (so it was off the screen on one side, and the other side was just a black bar). When it booted like this, I wouldn't be able to put it into standby either.

Does this signify a problem with any other hardware, or could it be just mainboard related?

[GreenEnvy]

whoa, two different topics going on here? Earlier was talk of laptop.

Resetting the CMOS is pretty easy. On an Asus board it is usually labeled CMOS or CMOS CLR
Find that jumper, there will be 3 pins, with a jumper covering two of them. They will be one end pin and the middle pin, with the other end pin not covered. Move it so its covers that one and the middle one.
For good measure, also pop out the CMOS battery, this should be plainly visible, a silver disk. There is a little lever on it you press to eject it. Leave it out for 10 seconds, put it back in, then move that jumper back.
Try booting up now and see if that helped any.

Asus is a very popular brand with a good repuation, but I've been having lots of trouble with them recently. I had to RMA one and just swapped another one out Thursday with a Gigabyte and all my problems dissapeared.

[ORION]

Lol Envy, same (Asus, Gigabyte, etc.). However I do not recommend pulling the battery...
I'd recommend getting the manual out before resetting the CMOS, to make sure you do it right (although it is fairly simple)
Shut down.
Turn off PSU
Move Jumper
Turn on PSU
Power Up
10 seconds
Power Down
PSU Off
Move Jumper Back
Power Up
Go Into BIOS setup and restore it to however you had it set.

[Fubared]

I figure it's the adapter, so I take it to the local computer shop. They try their universal power adapter, set the voltage, and lo and behold, it works. For three minutes. Then it completely and utterly fails.

Rofl Classic

[fab]

/quote Rofl Classic /endquote

So, um, I get it back, they apparently swapped out the "system board" (which I might've mentioned already), I get the fucker to turn on and run TF2 for an hour (the first thing I attempted as a stress test of sorts... and destressing / fun for me) and it craps out. Then, I manage to turn it back on once or twice, booting into Windows. Then it won't turn on at all, with the adapter (which I thought was broken but my Dad and I checked with the voltmeter and it seems to be dandy) AND I bought another adapter because we thought the other one was busted when the pin snapped off. (He's a mechanical engineer and has some rather unorthodox ideas about what may or may not be the problem sometimes.)

Needless to say, I'm shipping it off again tomorrow, and if I get it back in the same broken state... It'll be letter writing time! Mmmm, angry letter. Hopefully that means I'll get a new, functional laptop! No more having Dad yell at me for installing software I needed to complete a school project and accusing me of corrupting the system. (Windows does that well enough half the time...)

>:(

[TheSniper]

Based on my experience, it seems that Arch's problem is due to either a shot mobo or bad RAM; my PC decided a while back that it wouldn't POST; just a power light and (occasionally) an angry squeal that randomly died and came back to life. After a quick run to tigerdirect and a new mobo (with some ddr2 to go with it), everything was just dandy. Since I had to upgrade the ram for the mobo, I never did find out if it was the mobo or the ram... Who knows, now might be a good time to just upgrade the whole thing and be done with OEM bullshit and retarded smart buy technicians ;p. It seems to me that all they're doing when you send your pc in is maybe scrounge a piece here or there, and replace it with something shittier-this is why I always wish I had about a dozen cases of eggs whenever I go by a bestbuy or staples or futureshop.

[badastronaut]

Well, I would think about upgrading, but I don't want to spend any more money than I already have on this piece of junk. Seriously, I'm about as fed up as I can be with this computer. If I wanted to upgrade, I'd have to get a new: video card (since the one I have is shit), mobo (since it's probably broken), RAM (since DDR is no longer the standard), PSU (since the one I have is shit), proc (maybe... unless I could get a s939 mobo). After that, all I have left are some optical drives and a pretty scratched and banged up case (DAMN YOU SMART BUY!!!).

Who knows. It's going back today, and we'll see.